This edited collection explores the malleability and influence of body image, focusing particularly on how media representation and popular culture’s focus on the body exacerbates the crucial social influence these representations can have on audiences’ perceptions of themselves and others. Contributors investigate the cultural context and lived experiences of individuals’ relationships with their bodies, going beyond examination of the thin, ideal body type to explore the emerging representations and portrayals of a diverse set of body types across the media spectrum, paving the way for future research on this topic. Scholars of media studies, popular culture, and health communication will find this book particularly useful.

Contributions by: Mary Beth Asbury, Erin Cook, Amy Crumbaugh, Debbie Danowski, Adrienne Darrah, Trischa Goodnow, Amanda Hill, K. Megan Hopper, Johnny Jones, Jessica M. W. Kratzer, Sarah S. LeBlanc, Wanjiru G. Mbure, Wendy Chapman Peek, Suri M. Pourmodheji, Juliana Russell, Sylvia Rust, Siobhan E. Smith-Jones, Ashton Gerding Speno, Nora Suren, Tamanna Tasmin, Beck Wise, Jennifer Lewallen Woolf